I was distressed to pick up my newspaper this morning and find two,
possibly three egregious cliches in display type, over a pretty good
story about a local woman who turned 108. (Interesting woman, actually
– she’s in a wheelchair, but only because she broke her hip two years
ago kicking a soccer ball.)

On a 1A blurb reefer was the headline “On her 108th, she’s still going
strong.” That “still going strong” is one of the worst cliches about
an old person, in my mind. And that made it past a slot, at least one
news editor and at least one proofreader to get to my front yard. (The
story itself makes a similar stumble: “Her hearing is still good”.
C’mon, drop the “still”. Otherwise, though, it avoids most of the
pitfalls involved in writing about centenarians.)

Then on the metro cover, in what looks like 60-point type: “She’s 108
years young.” Yech. Completing the trifecta, the deck reads “She’slived a full life — but it’s far from over.”

Alex Bensky of Detroit, who commented on the post below, was moved to nominate:

“Quite simply,” as in “Ozzie Smith is quite simply the best defensive shortstop in history” or “This is, quite simply, the finest movie of the year.”

What does it add? What extra meaning does it carry? What’s the difference between “Greta Garbo is quite simply the great movie actress of all time” and “Greta Garbo is the greatest movie actress of all time?”

My “banned for life” nominee is “wardrobe malfunction.” If I never hear that phrase again, it’ll be just fine with me!

Another language pet peeve that irks me is when a reporter talks about a “senseless” murder. Is there any other kind?

A couple of redundancies that also get my goat are “ATM machine,” or “HIV virus.” The “M” in ATM already stands for “machine,” so saying “ATM machine,” is saying “automated teller machine machine.” The “V” in HIV already stands for “virus,” so, when someone says “HIV virus,” what they’re really saying is “human immunodeficiency virus virus.” What they SHOULD say is “ATM” and “HIV,” period.

Another interesting language miscue, and it’s something I hadn’t thought
about myself until I heard someone else bring it up, is when someone says, “I thought to myself...”. Can you think to anyone else but yourself?

Hatin’ on the hackneyed

Banned for Life is devoted to those expressions so gratingly overused that they should be forever banned from the nation's news reports.

George Orwell put it best:

"Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print."

# # #

These are my most-loathed expressions:

" 'Tis the Season" at Christmas.

Campaign "war chests."

Downpours that "couldn't dampen the spirits" of all those upon whom the rain fell.

"Play in Peoria" in any story or headline relating to the central Illinois town of my birth.

"The good news is .... the bad news is...."

This site is about what not to write if you write news for a living. It's not about annoying expressions that crop up in everyday conversations.

If Katie Couric's saying it, please tell me about it. If it's your annoying brother-in-law, grit your teeth and be thankful half of all marriages end in divorce.

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